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Supreme Court rules on mail-in ballots received after Election Day
By Anders Hagstrom
Published June 29, 2026
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted in elections even if they are received after Election Day on Monday.
The court was split 5-4 on the ruling, with Justice Amy Coney Barrett writing the majority opinion. She was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
Barrett's opinion held that Election Day, in the context of federal law, set a deadline for when voters must make a choice regarding their preferred candidate. Relevant laws, however, impose no standard for when ballots must be received to be considered valid.
"The electorate’s choice is made when voting is complete, not when ballots are received," she wrote. "Election-day statutes say nothing about ballot receipt, and we cannot add to the words Congress chose."
Justice Samuel Alito, writing his dissent, took a different view of what it means for the electorate to have made a choice.
"If ballots received after election day are added to the set of ballots that dictate the election’s outcome, the electorate’s choice does not occur on election day," he wrote. "The acceptance of these late-arriving ballots effectively postpones the date on which the electorate’s choice is made."
This is a developing story. Check back soon for updates.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/supreme-court-rules-mail-in-ballots-received-after-election-day